My work

I take tiny blood vessels from healthy and fat (obese) humans and mice and study these to find out why blood vessels don’t work properly when people are obese. The vessels I look at are as thin as a strand of hair, and because they are so small I have to use powerful microscopes to find out how they work. We look at many things in the vessels like what happens when I blow them up (like a balloon) or what happens when I add different drugs to them.

Here is a picture of me doing an experiment looking at what happens to the vessels when I blow them up.

My Typical Day

My typical day is very busy and starts with taking blood vessels out from mice or humans and then doing my experiments which can take all day.

On a typical day, I first have to prepare my experiments. This involves taking very small blood vessels from mice or humans. I also have to set-up my microscopes and make up the solutions and drugs that I will need on that day.

Next, I have to set-up the tiny blood vessels by placing them on smaller glass tubes or I have to cut the blood vessels open using a specially-made pair of scissors and a microscope so I can see what I am doing.

In this picture, you can see a vessel after I have placed it on the glass tubes and tied string around it to keep it in place. The top picture shows the vessel before I have blown it up. The bottom picture shows the exact same vessel after I blow it up. You can see that it inflates.

I then take the vessels and look at them with a very big powerful microscope which costs about a quarter of a million pounds. I shine a strong laser on the vessels and then record a video of the cells with a camera attached to the microscope. We blow up the vessels, kind of like how you blow up a balloon. Sometimes I change how much I blow up the vessels or what drugs I add to the vessels to see what happens to the cells in the blood vessel.

This is our very high powered microscope. I use it to look at the cells in the blood vessels very closely to help me understand how these blood vessels work.

The top picture here shows another blood vessel which I have placed on the small glass tubes. The end of the glass tubes can be seen inside the blood vessel (orange arrows). The bottom picture shows the same vessel after I have left it in a special chemical. The cells in the vessel soak up the chemical. Inside the cells, when the chemical touches a certain molecule that I am interested in, a chemical reaction happens and that cell will start to glow. I use a microscope and a green laser to measure how much the vessel is glowing.

This picture shows what the cells look like on the inside of the blood vessels when I look at them with our powerful microscope. These cells are called ‘endothelial cells‘. I am interested in these cells because they tell the artery to open and let more blood through, but when people become fat these cells don’t seem to work properly.

I will do these experiments many times and collect lots of videos which I can then analyse on a computer. After collecting lots of videos, I use what I have found to try explain the science behind how blood vessels work and what goes wrong when people are obese.

What I'd do with the money

If I win, I will be running a “young student science fun day” at my laboratory so that students who are interested can come visit and see where I work, what I do and I can tell them more about all the great things about being a scientist and a doctor.

If I win, I would like to use the money to invite young students to a fun day at my laboratory where I work at the University of Manchester.

In the morning, the students would be able to look around my lab, I can show them the microscopes I use and show them pictures and videos of the experiments that I do on a typical day. I will also explain my background, how I grew up in a poor area in Bradford (West Yorkshire) where I used to get into trouble as an energetic teen, but I eventually realised that I had to work hard if I wanted to follow my dreams of studying medicine and becoming a doctor. I will explain my adventurous journey at university and how, through studying medicine, I became fascinated with how blood vessels work which led me to become a scientist as well as a doctor.

There will be a nice lunch provided where the students will be able to ask me whatever questions they want about my job and my interests and they can also ask my advice for anyone wanting to start a career in science or medicine.

In the afternoon, the students will be given an interesting guided tour of the Manchester Museum where they can see dinosaurs, mummies and live animals, just to name a few of their interesting attractions.

Overall it will be a very fun day with lots of interesting discussion and activities for all, so please vote for me.

My Interview

How would you describe yourself in 3 words?

Hard-working ?, crazy ? and funny ?.

What's the best thing you've done in your career?

I have just come back from a year-long visit to a laboratory in America ?? which was a fantastic experience.

What or who inspired you to follow your career?

From a young age I have always been fascinated with how the body works and how it goes wrong when people become ill ?

Were you ever in trouble at school?

Yes – sometimes a lot ?

If you weren't a scientist, what would you be?

A formula F-1 driver ?

Who is your favourite singer or band?

I am embarrassed to admit that recently I have been enjoying Justin Bieber’s new album ?

What's your favourite food?

Steak and chips ?

What is the most fun thing you've done?

I led a team of students in Year 11 to raise £10,000 to take 50 students away to Scotland for a week where we did loads of fun activities like rock climbing, gorge scrambling and white water rafting ?

If you had 3 wishes for yourself what would they be? - be honest!

I wish: 1) I become rich ? 2) I become poor after giving away my riches to the poor ? 3) I am successful at what I love doing – my job ?

Tell us a joke.

A child asked his father, “How were people born?” So his father said, “Adam and Eve made babies, then their babies became adults and made babies, and so on.” The child then went to his mother, asked her the same question and she told him, “We were monkeys then we evolved to become like we are now.” The child ran back to his father and said, “You lied to me!” His father replied, “No, your mom was talking about her side of the family.” LOLLLL ???

Work photos:

Me and my awesome research team helping to raise money for the charity that pays for our research – ❤️ The British Heart Foundation ❤️
Here is a picture of me doing an experiment looking at what happens to the vessels when I blow them up.
In this picture, you can see a vessel after I have placed it on the glass tubes and tied string around it to keep it in place. The top picture shows the vessel before I have blown it up. The bottom picture shows the exact same vessel after I blow it up. You can see that it inflates.
The top picture here shows another blood vessel which I have placed on the small glass tubes. The end of the glass tubes can be seen inside the blood vessel (orange arrows). The bottom picture shows the same vessel after I have left it in a special chemical. The cells in the vessel soak up the chemical. Inside the cells, when the chemical touches a certain molecule that I am interested in, a chemical reaction happens and that cell will start to glow. I use a microscope and a green laser to measure how much the vessel is glowing.
This is our very high powered microscope. I use it to look at the cells in the blood vessels very closely to help me understand how these blood vessels work.
This picture shows what the cells look like on the inside of the blood vessels when I look at them with our powerful microscope. These cells are called ‘endothelial cells’. I am interested in these cells because they tell the artery to open and let more blood through, but when people become fat these cells don’t seem to work properly.
This is the building where I am based at the University of Manchester.
Here is a picture of me walking home in a snow storm after a long day in the lab I was visiting in Vermont (USA). I visited this lab to learn how to do some of the experiments that I do now in our lab in Manchester.
My research is paid for by the British Heart Foundation. I was also recently awarded some money by The Physiological Society to help pay for my travel to visit a lab in the USA .
This research has been done at The University of Manchester and The University of Vermont.